In Pokemon Contest houses, you may enter your Pokemon into a contest for a chance to win a medal. However if you enter without any Porok level ups, you will have a very low chance of winning. The way to raise this is to go out and find the trees with berries on them, then press A. You will then receive 1 to 4 berries. If you now go to a Pokemon House, you will see small gray machines on the right. The empty one on the top is for multi-player. For now, find a house in a city that only has a man at the bottom. Go to the other side of the machine and press A. You will then be asked to pick a Porok (berry) and throw it in. The spinner will come down and start moving. The objective is to press A just when the spinner hits your arrow:

Circle Within A Circle: Direct hit (much faster)

Circle: Near hit (slightly faster)

X: Miss (slower)

The faster you (and your opponent) get the spinner moving, the better. Once the meter at the top hits the end, it is over and the results and the fastest RPM the spinner was moving will appear. You will then receive a Blended Porok. The level of it depends on how fast you got the machine going. The average appears to be 11. Next, open your Special Items Pocket and go to your "Pez dispenser" type item (which you must have to play the game -- it is obtained from the girl in the first contest house). You will then pick a Blended Porok and feed it to a pet, making one of his Pokemon Contest stats (viewable in the Poke-Navi) go up. Some can even raise multiple stats. The more you do this, the better chance you have of winning.

Recommended starting Pokemon

The best type of starting Pokemon (in order) are: Water, Grass, and Fire. Torchic proves to be the best as you get farther in the game, but proves to be difficult in the beginning. Mudkip is strong in the beginning, but weaker against the Elite Four. Mudkip is a good choice if playing Pokemon Ruby. Treeko is somewhat neutral, but is best to choose if playing Pokemon Sapphire because of Team Aqua.

Recommended moves for Blaziken or Cumbusken

If you have a Combusken or Blaziken, the best moves for it are Ember (can replace with Flare Kick if desired), Double Kick, and since it is able to learn a Bird type move, Steel Wing or any other powerful TM flying based move. Also give it an HM (preferably Cut).

Regis

Use the following steps to capture the three mysterious Pokemon called the Regis. Go to the southeast part of Route 134 and dive into the water. It is difficult to get to due to the currents, and it is the only deep part of that route. You will find a cave. At a part of the cave, there are some Brail writing on the wall. At that point, float to the top of the water, where you will end up in a cavern. Go into the last room by going forward, use Dig, and in the next room you must do something strange. Put a Relicanth in the front of your party, and a Wailord at the last place. Walk to the top of the room and read the Brail . You will trigger an earthquake, which will unlock the Regis. You can fish up a Wailmer to evolve at level 40 at Route 122, and find a Relicanth outside Sootopolis in the underwater grass (rarely, but it is there).

To find Registeel, you can access a volcano in the southwest region of Route 120. Enter it, then move towards the center of the room. Use Fly to find Registeel.

To find Regirock, fly to lavaridge, bop down the mountain, and enter the desert. In the southern part of the desert, you will find a cavern. Enter it, then walk up to the center tile at the top of the room. Go three steps down and two steps right. Use strength to open the passage to Regirock.

To find Regice, in Route 105, there is an island on the west side that has a mountain on it. Go there, enter, and stand in front of the tile. Press A, read it, press A again, and do not do anything else. The door will open after twenty seconds, and the last Regi is yours.

You never have to use the Master Ball to catch all the legendary Pokemon. You can catch them all with about 60 Great Balls. However, you might need to use a Master Ball against the last one in the tower.

Sharpedo

Once you are able to track down Sharpedo in your Pokedex, do whatever is necessary to capture it. It is an excellent Water/Dark Pokemon that already knows Crunch, Dark's most powerful attack. His speed is incredible and will be of great use later in the game.

TM 02

In order to do this, you must Have waterfall, Surf Pokemon at least level 35. Aqua/Maga will steal the meteorite. However, there is more for the Meteor Falls. Go deep into the cave. Use Waterfall on the fall. Go through the cave and find TM 02.

TM 43

Go through the tunnel by the cable cars that lead to Mt. Chimney. Then, go right until you can go up. You will find a person looking at a sort of "pine tree". Talk to him to receive TM43 or Secret Power. You can now make secret bases.

Hidden message

After you unlock the three rare Pokemon, the Pokemon in the cave on the road after the town with the tree houses, the hidden messages is "With new time Hope and love Aim to the sky in the middle".

Premier Ball

Buy at least ten Pokeballs and you will get a free Premier Ball.

Bike wheelie

Press B on a bike to pop a wheelie. Without a bike you will run.

Bike bunny hops

Get the Acro Bike and hold B without moving the D-pad to bunny hop.

Mach Bike/Acro Bike abilities

Once you reach Mauville City, there is a building called Rydel's Cycles. Go inside and talk to Rydel. Once he learns that you have walked from Littleroot Town to Mauville City, he will give you a bike to ride. There are two bikes that you can have -- the Mach Bike and the Acro Bike. The Mach Bike can go fast, but has very bad handling. It is used for riding up sandy slopes and for speeding past crumbling floors in some caves. The Acro Bike is the one you can do tricks on. It does not go as fast as the Mach Bike, but has very good handling. You can hold B while riding to do wheelies, or stop and hold B to do little bunny hops. You can also tap B + D-pad in any direction to take little jumps. This bike is used for getting across narrow, white rails that span some rivers.

Gym tactics

First, try using Kyamome or a Water/Grass starter. Then, try Water/Fire starter Grass at level 20 to 25. Finally, try Sandshrew with lots of Ground attack. If you chose Torchick as your first Pokemon, you will soon find out that the first Gym Leader will be difficult without the proper Pokemon. When you reach the first beach area (next to the forest entrance), try to catch a Wingull. Then while in the forest, spend some time to level it up and your Torchick. Get the Wingull to at least level 10, and the Combuskin to about level 16 to 18. You can now take out the three Geodudes the Leader has with the Wingull's Water-Gun, and use the Combuskin as backup.

Defeating your Rival

When facing your rival at the start that has Treecko, use a level 6 Wurmple; Mudkip use a level 7 Silccoon or Cascoon; Torchic use a level 5 to 6 Wingull. Wingull can be found in Route 103. Wurmple can be found in Route103. To get Cascoon or Silccoon, evolve Wurmple at level 7.

Poke-Navi

This is a useful item with multiple functions:

Map: This will display a map of Houen. You can move the pointer with the D-pad and can also press A to zoom in.

Poke-Info: This will display information about your Pokemon stats. These may show how much of a chance your Pokemon has of winning a Pokemon Contest. These can be raised with Poroks (the berries).

Trainer-Dex: This will show information on all of the trainers you have fought.

Hall Of Fame: After defeating the Elite 4, you can see your Pokemon that defeated them in the Hall of Fame.

HM list

HM 01 (Cut): Cuts down small bushes. Found inside the house to the left of the Pokemon Center in Kanazumi City.

HM 02 (Fly): Can fly to cities: Found in the town with the sixth Gym.

HM 03 (Surf): Can Swim. Found in the house left of the fourth Gym.

HM 04 (Strength): Allows you to push some rocks. Found in the town with fourth Gym.

HM 05 (Flash) Lights up dark areas. Found in the cave on the island with the second Badge.

HM 06 (Rock Smash): Smashes some rocks: Found in the house to the left of the third Gym.

HM 07 (Waterfall) Allows you to climb waterfalls. Found in the cave with the Legendary Pokemon in Rune.

HM 08 (Dive): Allows you to submerge under the ocean. Found in Tokusane City after beating the seventh Gym.